Bitcoin: More Regulation, More Opportunity?

Bitcoin may be a $1.2 billion marketplace, but the virtual currency still operates in a legal gray area: Companies that accept Bitcoin as payment--including reddit, Wordpress, and Mega--aren't breaking the law, but they aren't exactly complying with it either. That's because there are no laws governing Bitcoin--yet. On Monday, New York's top bank regulator announced it was launching a probe into Bitcoin. The New York Department of Financial Services subpoenaed 22 Bitcoin merchants, including the Winklevoss Capital Fund, a Bitcoin ETF led by the Facebook-famous Winklevoss brothers. The subpoenas were met, somewhat ironically, with open arms. Why? "In the Bitcoin world, we love regulation," Cameron Winklevoss, the founder of Winklevoss Capital Fund said recently . "I don't want to facilitate bad uses of money as much as anybody else." Clamoring for More Regulation As the use...